In the Bleak Midwinter
by thisisthemorning
Summary: The Scanran War is over, and Kel is at a loose end. But when disaster once again threatens the realm, it is up to her to prevent it.
1. Return to Corus

_Author's Note:_ This story is also posted to AO3, and was originally written as part of Yuletide 2015. The M-Rating is for descriptions of violence, starting from chapter 2. Please be warned that chapter 2 also contains implied character death (in a dream).

 _463 HE, Winter_

The sound of cobblestones beneath Hoshi's hooves made Kel take in a sharp breath. Along with the other knights who had aided her in her command of the fort and refugee camp, New Hope, Kel had finally returned to Corus for the first time since her posting to the Scanran border, three years previously. Now, with the newly forged Scanran peace ending her command, Kel felt a sudden and unexpected tension fill her chest, as she entered through Corus' gates. The tension must have also reached her heels; Hoshi slowed to a walk, letting out a sharp breath through his nostrils. Neal rode up alongside her, grinning.

"No slowing up now, Mindelan!" he called, cheerfully. "I'd like to make it to the Palace in time for a hot supper. Mithros knows, we've earned it!"

Behind him rode Kel's childhood friend, Yuki, Neal's wife since the summer, so bundled up in scarves against the cold wind and flecks of snow that only her bright eyes were visible. Further back, alongside the wagon that held Kel's dog, Jump, and their belongings, rode Kel and Neal's yearmate and friend, Merric, and behind the wagon, Tobe, half asleep atop Peachblossom. It had been a long and cold journey from the northern borders to the capital, but fortunately they had arrived just in time for the beginning of the Midwinter festivities—the first most of Tortall's knights would attend in three years.

Kel grinned at Neal and rolled back her shoulders, trying to shake off the strange tension. She too, was looking forward to a proper meal after several days of field rations. She nudged Hoshi back to a trot. "Get a move on then, _Queenscove_ ," she teased. "I know you're really looking forward to all the wedding toasts you're owed!"

Neal shrugged good-naturedly. Together, the small group rode between the snow-covered houses lining the capital's streets. Despite the cold weather and the relatively late hour, there was plenty of other traffic - vendors selling hot pasties and mulled wine, men and women in heavy coats hurrying from door to door, and children throwing snowballs and running between the horses and wagons that traversed the streets. Kel rode silently, her mind still trying to reconcile the size of the capital that had once been her home with the small fortified town of New Hope which she had now left behind her.

As they entered the palace courtyard, a familiar voice broke through her reverie. "Kel!"

Kel looked down, and grinned. "Daine! I didn't expect to see anyone out here at this time of day."

The Wildmage took Hoshi's reins from her, offering a sugar lump to the pleased horse. "I had so many people wanting to play with the babies that I thought I'd take them up on it and spend some time with some sensible folk."

Kel laughed as she slid from Hoshi's back, knowing that Daine's definition of "sensible folk" probably meant the horses or other palace animals rather than other humans. "I can't say I blame you," she said, thinking of all the times the animals and birds Daine had magicked around Haven and New Hope had helped her. She, too, sometimes found Jump's or the horses' company preferable to anyone else's.

Daine grinned at her. "Here, you've been riding all day - I can make sure the horses get the care they need. You all look like you could do with something to eat just as much as they do!"

As she spoke, Stefan Groomsman, the palace's head hostler, alongside several other palace hostlers, joined them, taking the reins of the other horses. Even Peachblossom peacefully allowed himself to be lead away from Tobe, who had slid sleepily from his back and who was now letting Jump free from the wagon. As he opened the door, several fluffy shapes fluttered out into the icy air and settled on Kel's shoulders: her sparrow friends.

"Thanks, Daine," Kel said gratefully, Neal, Merric, and Yuki all echoing her sentiment. With her friends and animals alongside her, Kel entered through the palace doors for the first time in three years.

* * *

Inside, the palace was bustling with activity. Servants whisked their snow-wet cloaks away from them and brought in their things from the wagon to be left in their chambers, and a maid - seemingly a friend of Lalasa's with instructions from Kel's former maid - took Tobe under her wing and led him off for a hot meal, followed by Jump and, somewhat to her consternation, the sparrows as well. Meanwhile, a squire, who Neal greeted as Alan, his former knightmaster, Alanna the Lioness's son, fetched Kel and the others to the dining hall for dinner.

"Running errands now, squirt?" Neal asked Alan jokingly.

Alan nudged him in the ribs with an elbow. "Sir Raoul heard you'd arrived and told me I'd better come grab you all before anyone else did."

Kel and Yuki looked at one another, confused. Merric asked their unspoken question: "Wait, why would anyone else want to 'grab us'?" he said, surprised.

Alan raised his eyebrows, for a moment looking startlingly the mirror of his famous mother. "Well, mostly Lady Knight Keladry, really." He turned to Kel. "Everyone knows what you did with the killing machines was what won the war, even if it took a while for it to end after that. Plenty of people were saying they wanted to hear it from you first hand."

Kel groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was to have to recount the events leading up to the death of Blayce the Gallan over and over - particularly because she wasn't sure exactly what the "official" version of the story entailed, and even more because she could not think about what had happened without remembering all those innocents who had died as part of it.

Yuki, who knew the full story from Neal, looked at Kel with sympathy and then turned to Alan. "Well, thank goodness for Sir Raoul, then."

Raoul waved them over cheerfully as they entered the dining hall, and Kel soon found herself seated between Buri and Owen, the latter of whom pronounced it "absolutely jolly" to see her again. Indeed, they hadn't seen each other since before Owen's knighting, and so Kel was truly happy to have a chance to catch up with her friend. His natural positivity soon overcame the last vestiges of her earlier uneasiness, and she relaxed into her seat, enjoying the good food and pleasant company of friends that she had not seen in one place since Raoul's wedding to Buri, three years previously.

Over the course of the meal, various friendly faces came over to say hello: Alanna and George, with news of their daughter Aly, who had still been missing the last time Kel had seen the Lioness; Roald and Shinko, who had finally been able to marry that autumn after the peace agreements had been concluded; Lord Wyldon (although Kel had seen him much more recently, at Fort Mastiff that spring); Numair and Daine, leaving early to return a squalling baby Rikash to their chambers; and Cleon and his wife Ermelian. Kel felt a bittersweet pleasure that she did not feel any pangs at all at seeing Cleon married - not that she had thought of him much since the official end of their romance, but it was one thing to be half a country away from each other and another to be confronted with his marriage in person. Really, seeing Cleon only made her think of Domitan of Masbolle - but he was someone Kel was unlikely to see that Midwinter, since several squads of the King's Own were still patrolling the northern borders, and Dom was in charge while Raoul was recalled to court.

As the night drew to a close, Kel felt comfortably full of food, and well-sated by good conversation. Excusing herself to Buri, who had been telling her about her plans for the Queen's Riders, she stood up to head towards her chambers. Glancing up at the King's table, she noticed with surprise that a Yamani face was amongst those sat in his entourage: a woman, square-faced with narrow, intelligent eyes and long, black, grey-streaked hair wrapped in braids around her head. Kel blinked, realizing that it was also a face she recognized - and one she had never expected to see outside of Yamani soil.

Leaning over, she nudged Yuki's back. "What, in Mithros' name, is Sato noh Akazome doing in Tortall?" she asked. Yuki started at the name and stood up as well, trying not to stare too obviously at the King's table.

"Sato- _sensei_ is here?" she asked excitedly. "I must say hello!"

Kel felt confused, although out of habit she tried not to let her confusion show on her face. As a child in the Yamani Islands, she had known _of_ Sato noh Akazome, although she had never spoken to her. The formidable woman was one of the most respected mages in the Islands, famed for her skill with illusion magic in particular, but she was also known to be one of the most severe traditionalists of the Yamani court. Prior to Kel's parents' arrival, she had made her displeasure at the Emperor's welcoming of foreigners to the Islands so well known that even Kel had heard about it as a small child, and she had refused to have anything to do with them while they were there, despite the close relationships Piers and Ilane of Mindelan had forged with the Emperor and other Yamani nobles. But now the mage was - seemingly willingly - in Tortall, and not only that, but smiling and chatting with Queen Thayet and Duke Baird? And, moreover, not even wearing the formal kimonos of a senior Yamani mage, but instead a Tortallan style tunic in brilliant red.

She turned back to Yuki, to ask her what she knew about the mage, but Yuki was already halfway to the King's table. Kel shrugged mentally. There would be plenty of time to find out about mysterious Yamani mages later on - and really, mystery or none, it had little to do with her. _The war is over, and you don't need to be on guard for every little suspicious thing anymore_ , she reminded herself. A little of the uneasy tension she had felt on entering tension had returned to sit at the bottom of her stomach, although for what reason, she couldn't really say.

"I'm off to bed," she said decisively to no one in particular, and headed to her chambers.


	2. Nightmare

Outside of the dining hall, the stone hallways of the palace were deserted. Kel began to walk towards the wing where the guest chambers were situated - part of her still felt she should be walking towards the page quarters, where she had lived for four years, even though it had been longer than that again since she had left the palace to become Raoul's squire. Still, it wasn't just for that reason that walking towards the guest quarters still felt like the wrong thing to do. The uneasy feeling still sat in her gut, and while Kel knew that she no longer wanted to be in the dining hall, she wasn't sure she could sleep either. For the first time in some time, memories of Haven, sacked and empty, and Rathaussak and the necromancer it held, played in her mind.

 _This is what happens when I have nothing to do_ , Kel thought crossly. _I end up thinking of silly things that I can't change_. Determined to get some sleep, and hopefully avoid dreaming about the past, she headed back to the guest chamber she had been allocated. Tobe was already there, in his usual position on a cot by the fireplace, and fast asleep. _Sensible boy_ , Kel thought, yawning, and quickly readied herself for bed, trying not to wake him. Their long journey had clearly worn him out, and he didn't even stir as her bed creaked. She pulled the covers over herself and, eventually, drifted off.

Sleep came quickly, but dreams also followed. Kel found herself, strangely, in the austere stone chapel that housed the Chamber of Ordeal. The iron door to the Chamber glinted slightly in the hint of moonlight that shone through the chapel's single stained-glass window. Kel stood in front of the door. Images of the day over three years earlier when she had similarly come here to enter the Chamber flitted through her dream. She had asked it then about the mission it had given her - the mission she had seen to its end with such devastating consequences for Haven and its people. _If I have to dream of visiting the Chamber again, it would have been nice to have Jump with me,_ she thought. Her subconscious, however, did not seem to agree - the little white dog did not suddenly appear.

 _Why am I here?_ Kel thought, a strange fear rising in her throat. She had passed the Ordeal of Knighthood, she had fulfilled the quest the Chamber had given her… _why dream of the Chamber now?_ But something pulled her inexorably towards the iron door. She wasn't sure if that something was the Chamber's influence, drawing her here, or something much more human: her own fear that, now the Scanran War was over, there was no place for a Lady Knight in Tortall. After all, the Lioness was the King's Champion, and other knights had palace roles to fill their time or lands to protect (or even command) outside of wartime. What did she, younger daughter with no particular patron, have to do, outside of wartime? One night en route from New Hope to Corus, she had dreamed of herself leading the King's Own, inheriting Raoul's role as commander, and awoken with a deep feeling of longing and disappointment. Her successes in command of New Hope notwithstanding, she knew a silly dream when she saw one. There was simply no way that the King, or even Roald, would ever appoint "the Girl" to such a prestigious position.

 _Lucid dreaming_ , Kel thought sarcastically. _How wonderful to be able to analyze myself while still in the middle of the dream!_

She shook her head. Whatever the reason, she didn't seem to be able to stop her dream-self from walking towards the Chamber door - her hand was nearly on the door handle. Steeling herself with a deep breath, she touched the door. Images of Blayce the Gallan, decapitated, and Rathaussak burning, flashed through her mind. _I did what you asked_ , she thought. _What do you want now?_

Rather than the terrifying stream of violent images she usually experienced when touching the Chamber door, instead the door swung away from her touch, opening in front of her. Surprised, she opened her eyes and stared into the blackness. "All right," she said aloud. "If that's what you want."

Determinedly, she stepped across the threshold. The door swung shut behind her, and once again found herself stood in the bare plain she had seen the last time she came here. "I see your sense of decor hasn't changed," she said wryly. "Don't you get bored?"

The Chamber's whispering voice filled her mind. _You completed the task I set you. You did well_ , it said. _But you already knew that I knew that. That is not why you are here._

Kel sighed. "Then why am I here?" she asked, knowing that another question lay beneath it: _What use am I now?_

The Chamber's face appeared in the dirt before her. _You doubt your importance, when I named you Protector? There will always be work for you, I told you - and indeed, work there is_.

Kel started as the plain twisted away and she found herself standing in a field of corn. A rustling told her that someone (or something) was coming, through the plants, and she turned as a laughing Princess Shinkokami stepped out from between the rustling leaves.

"Kel!" her friend cried happily, and Kel opened her mouth to respond, before stopping herself. Speaking inside the Chamber was banned during the Ordeal, and while she had spoken to the Chamber itself, she wasn't sure what effect speaking to those she saw inside it would have - particularly since she was fairly certain that Shinko was presently still inside the palace, not in a field somewhere.

"Kel!" another voice cried from behind her, mockingly, and she immediately realized that it was good that she hadn't spoken, as she quickly turned around to see another Shinko. This one, however, did not look like her graceful and dignified friend. This Shinko was pale and ghostlike, dark rings around her eyes and a scowl upon her face. As Kel stared at her, she opened her mouth and bared her teeth in a horrifying grimace, and Kel was aghast to see rows of shark-like teeth in her mouth, instead of Shinko's usual pearly whites.

The terrible Shinko double opened her mouth, wide, teeth glinting in the sunlight, and Kel watched in horror as she – _it_ – tore the "real" Shinko apart, until all that remained was blood dripping from the double's fangs onto the grass. The double threw back her head and laughed, not Shinko's musical laughter but a cackle which echoed around the field in which they stood. Then she looked at Kel, scowled again, and strode away across the field. Kel watched, frozen, as the rows of corn wilted and blackened beneath the double's feet. Mice and small birds scurried out of the way of the double's feet, but they too fell and died, their bodies instantly rotting away to shreds of blackened flesh and bone. A hawk fell from high above the field and landed with a thud in front of Kel, his body already crumbling as it landed.

Outwards from Shinko's double the blackness spread, across Tortall, swallowing plants and animals in its wake. Flashes of visions of crying, starving children, burning homes, and dying commoners of all sorts - farmers, millers, bakers, miners - passed before Kel's eyes. Tears fell down her cheeks and she fell to her knees as the Chamber returned to the bare plain.

The Chamber's voice sounded in her head once more. _You are the Protector of the Small, and yet the task I now give you is to protect something far greater than yourself. This will come to Tortall, if you do not stop it_.

Kel wiped her eyes, and found her voice. "But what is it? Is this mage-work?" Her mind worked desperately, trying to get past what she had just seen so that she could ask sensible questions. "Last time you showed me something that was already happening. This hasn't happened yet - I can't imagine how what you just showed me could happen like that at all!"

The Chamber's eyes shone yellow as it stared at her passively. _I have shown you what you need to know. You will know what you need to do, just like the last time_.

"Last time _people died_ ," Kel spat out angrily, feeling hot emotion rise in her that she had long pushed down and hidden away. "Last time you couldn't tell me when, or where, and it was only after it was too late for too many that I could do anything at all! Last time _I failed_ _to protect them_."

The Chamber closed it eyes. _Humans,_ it almost harrumphed. _You did what you needed to do, when it needed to be done. The abomination was stopped. That was what was necessary. You succeeded._

Kel opened her mouth to argue with it again, but the Chamber continued. _You will see what needs to be done. You will see, and you will succeed again, Protector of the Small._

With that, the Chamber went dark. Kel groped for the iron door, and almost fell through it, nausea rising. She sank to the floor and leaned against the cold stone wall of the Chapel, trying to get her thoughts in order. What she had seen sickened her to her stomach - Shinko, devoured by her own wraith-like double, and Tortallan soil turned to blackened rotting dust - but was that what really would happen? What kind of magic could produce a second person, never mind cause destruction on that scale? Even the killing devices had not been so destructive.

 _I think I'd like to wake up now_ , she thought, and opened her eyes.

"What was that about?" she whispered to herself, pushing off the stifling covers and propping herself up on one elbow, trying to push back the sick feeling from the back of her throat. It took a long time for her to fall asleep again that night.


	3. The Opening Ball

When sleep finally came, it wasn't free of dreams, although none were so lucid as the first. Kel saw images of Shinko's body torn apart by glinting teeth, and birds and mice rotting where they fell, and she tossed and turned. Tobe looked askance at her when she awoke. "You feelin' alright?" he asked. "Been a while since you last was talkin' about that Chamber in your sleep."

Kel rubbed her eyes and tried to smile reassuringly at him. _It was just an awful nightmare_ , she told herself. Not something to worry anyone else with - and certainly not Tobe, who deserved to be able to enjoy his first proper Midwinter festival in peace. "Never mind that," she said firmly. "Let's go find some breakfast."

While Tobe was still officially her indentured servant (at least for another year, until the contract came to an end), their relationship had quite quickly become something more along the lines of aunt and nephew, or even adoptive mother and son. Tobe even called her "mother" at times - sometimes less jokingly than others. Still, the undefined nature of the relationship seemed to suit them both for now, and Tobe still chose to sleep most nights by Kel's fire, particularly when they were travelling. Kel had long ago given up trying to convince him to sleep in a proper bed.

Breakfast was to be found in the dining hall, and Tobe set about the warm bread rolls, sliced cheeses and meats with gusto. Kel slipped into a seat next to Merric. "Enjoying being back in civilization?" she asked him teasingly, knowing that the time on the Scanran border had been, at least at first, more difficult for him to adjust to than for herself or Neal.

Merric glanced at her, and sighed. "To be honest, it feels a little odd, actually," he admitted. "I woke up feeling like I'd forgotten something, and nearly headed to the stables to start morning patrol before I remembered where I was."

Kel nodded understandingly. "I know what you mean," she replied. "I feel like I don't know what I'm doing here!" _More than you could even know,_ she added internally, suppressing a shudder as she again remembered the dream of the Chamber, with its vision of Shinko and the rotting fields of Tortall. She made up her mind to at least restart her early morning glaive practice the next day before breakfast. Maybe some exercise would wear her out enough to sleep without dreaming. The familiar pattern dances always helped focus her thoughts, in any case.

* * *

After breakfast, Kel's parents arrived from Mindelan, and the day passed by quickly without a hint of anything suspicious taking place, a flurry of welcomes and reunions, including a visit to Lalasa's dress shop, where Kel found that her former maid had already prepared a gown for her for that evening's Opening Ball. When she protested that she didn't need a new dress, Lalasa shushed her, tutting. "Begging your pardon, Lady Kel, but half of my customers are from the Palace, these days, and they all know that the only reason I could open the shop was because of you. It wouldn't do for you to show up at the ball wearing any old thing!"

Kel sighed, knowing this was an argument she couldn't win, and submitted to Lalasa's needle and measuring tape. At least the ball would be a good opportunity to catch up with her friends. Plus, she could ask Yuki about the strange Yamani mage. Pushing aside her lingering mood from the bad night's sleep, she asked Lalasa about her latest commissions from Queen Thayet and her ladies-in-waiting.

* * *

If it had not been for Kel's disturbing dream of the Chamber the previous night, she would probably have enjoyed the ball a lot more. The dress Lalasa had made for her was long and green with a high waist and some delicate embroidery around the sleeves, and was surprisingly comfortable to move around in. Despite her old unwillingness to dance, she found herself laughing on the dance floor with Neal, then Merric, and finally Owen, whose natural good humour made it impossible to turn him down. Still, despite the festive atmosphere and her enjoyment at being amongst her friends, she couldn't shake the tense feeling in her gut. She glanced across at Shinko, to reassure herself that it had just been a dream. Her friend was her normal graceful self, dancing with Roald and chatting happily with Yuki, the Queen, and her ladies. Kel had avoided joining them, so far. She wasn't sure she could cope with chatting with Shinko right now, with the awful images of the dream still resounding in her mind. Eventually, Yuki came and grabbed her by the sleeve. "Shinko wants to know why you're avoiding her!" she murmured in Yamani into Kel's ear. "Why haven't you said hello yet?"

Kel swallowed. "Sorry, Yuki," she said, brushing aside her thoughts and letting her Yamani mask cover over her churning emotions. "I've been feeling a little out of sorts ever since we got back…. Not used to being back in Corus, I suppose."

Yuki looked at her with sympathetic eyes, and Kel felt ashamed of the half-truth. "Well, I'm sure Shinko will understand once you explain it to her. But you really should come and say hello! You haven't seen her since before her wedding, no?"

Kel inwardly steeled herself and followed Yuki over to where Shinko sat, near to Queen Thayet and their assorted ladies-in-waiting. After a few minutes, though, it felt like all her avoidance of her old friend had been unnecessary and even silly - as usual, the two were soon caught up in conversation as if no time had passed since they were last together. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the wedding," Kel said, after they had exchanged greetings and news of the past years.

"Nonsense, Kel," Shinko said firmly, patting Kel's hand. "You had a very good reason to be away. I only wish I could have done more towards helping you, out there on the border - and I know Roald feels the same."

Kel opened her mouth to respond, when a strange expression passed across Shinko's face. Her dark eyes twitched away from Kel's face, to stare fixedly at a point somewhere behind Kel's head, and her mouth fell open. All the colour drained from her cheeks, and her usually animated hands fell limply into her lap. A cold sense of dread filled Kel's stomach. "Shinko!" she whispered sharply, trying not to alarm anyone else around them.

At once, Shinko blinked, and stared at Kel in surprise. "Sorry," she said faintly, slipping into Yamani. "What were you saying? Perhaps I should not have drunk the wine…"

Kel took a deep breath, trying to decide what to say, when Yuki stepped across to them from where she had been talking to Queen Thayet. "I think I've been in the cold of the North for too long," she said brightly. "It's far too warm in here for me!"

Shinko glanced at Kel, an odd look in her dark eyes, then smiled at Yuki. "Well, I haven't been far from the Palace, but I think I agree," she said, the colour returning to her cheeks as she spoke. "Why don't we get a little air?" Standing, she took Yuki's arm.

"I'll join you," Kel agreed, trying to keep her voice from betraying the fear that still swelled in her belly. As she stood, she twisted around to see what, if anything, Shinko had stared at in the moment that the strange blankness had spread across her features. With a shock, she realized that there was only one person behind her, indeed only one thing, aside from a bench, a torch, and the wall: Sato, the Yamani mage.


	4. Suspicions

The next morning, Kel made good on her promise to herself to resume her dawn glaive practice. She thought to leave Tobe sleeping, but he slipped out of the chamber behind her, Jump at his heels, as she tried to quietly leave. "Peachblossom could do with some extra attention," he said, by way of explanation. Kel watched them head inside the stables, knowing he'd be happy in the horses' company, and headed to the deserted practice yard she had spent so much time in as a page.

She fell quickly into the familiar, smooth movements of the Yamani pattern dance, her glaive sliced through the air around her with barely a sound. For a few minutes, she focused only on her movements and breathing, allowing her mind to empty itself of all thoughts other than the awareness of her own working muscles and the calm rise and fall of her chest. Only once she finally felt calm and focussed for the first time in days did she allow herself to think of what she had witnessed in the dream and at the ball.

 _Now, stop being so silly and jumping at shadows,_ she told herself. _First I had a bizarre dream that the Chamber showed me something terrible happening to Shinko and Tortall. That was just a dream. It's not like I haven't had bad dreams about the Chamber before. It's probably just the effect of being back in Corus. Then I saw Shinko space out last night. She was probably just tired, or it was a trick of the light. And then I saw Sato noh Akazome at the ball. She may be a little odd, and I don't really understand how she went from being renowned for hating all foreigners to being apparently happy to be here in Tortall, but that doesn't mean she's at all suspicious._

Her glaive swirled in front of her as she moved into the second, more complex, sequence of steps. _And what do I even have to be suspicious of?_ She pushed away fear and worry, along with irritation at the cryptic nature of the Chamber's message, letting the emotions flow away with the motion of her glaive. _A stupid dream, that I can't shake for some reason_ , she told herself. _There is no threat._ She switched to a sequence of defensive moves. _I need to stop being so on edge and enjoy seeing everyone again._ Despite her attempts to forget the dream, though, nothing was working.

By the time she had finished the final sequence of the pattern dance, she felt a little more like she knew what she should do. _I don't trust the mage_ , she decided. _I'll have to watch out for her, 'til I know if that's just gut feeling or justified. And I'll spend more time with Shinko. Maybe seeing her be perfectly normal will help me forget what I saw in the nightmare._ Pulling a handkerchief from inside her jerkin, she wiped off the handle of her glaive carefully. _I really need to decide what I'm going to do after Midwinter_ , she thought, annoyed with herself for feeling so rattled by a bad dream. _I'm probably getting bad dreams because I don't know what my future holds._ She sighed. _I wish I could just go and visit the Chamber, even if I would rather never go inside the cursed thing again,_ she thought. _Then I'd know once and for all that it was just a dream. But with the Ordeals happening every night until after Midwinter, there's never a time when the chapel is empty for long._

As she crossed the yard, a small shape fluttered across from a window ledge and settled on her shoulder. She fished in her pocket for the dried cranberries she usually kept there, and offered one to the sparrow. "Hello Nari," she said softly. The sparrow pecked at the cranberry, chirping appreciatively. Kel had made sure to always have dried cherries or raisins with her for her feathered friends, ever since the sparrows' bravery at Rathaussak. At that, a thought occurred to her - something that would help her convince herself once and for all that nothing suspicious was happening. "Will you find the others, Nari?" she asked the sparrow. "I think I need your help again..."

After explaining to the sparrows how they could help her, by letting her know if Shinko did anything unusual, or if Sato the mage went near Shinko's chambers or anywhere else a visitor to the palace wouldn't normally be, Kel decided she also needed to pay a visit to Lalasa. Her former maid was still friends with many of the servants in the palace, and servants often saw things that nobody else did - particularly because many people did not pay attention to servants being nearby, forgetting that commoners were just as much people as nobles were.

Lalasa was pleased to see her, and nodded seriously at her request as they drank tea together at the back of her small shop. "Certainly, Lady Kel," she said, after Kel had explained. "If I tell them it's a favour for you, they won't ask why, and they won't tell no-one, either."

Kel sighed. "You know, you really can just call me Kel," she said.

Lalasa grinned. "Of course, Lady Kel." She poured them both another cup and carefully stirred a lump of sugar into her own. "But do you really think this mage is a threat to the princess? I thought the war was over."

"I'm probably just being over-cautious," Kel replied. She hadn't told Lalasa about the dream, only that she was suspicious of the mage's intentions. Still, she really did hope that she was wrong - she would hate to find that anyone from the Yamani Islands really did have ill intent towards Tortall, especially after all her parents' hard work, and for Shinko and Yuki's future lives there. "But until I'm sure if I am or not, tell your friends to let me know if they see the mage doing anything suspicious. Especially if she's doing it anywhere near the Prince and Princess, or the King and Queen, for that matter."

Lalasa looked somewhat wide-eyed at the topic of their conversation, but she had certainly changed beyond recognition from the scared girl who Kel had first met as a new page. This Lalasa was confident in a way she hadn't been even when Kel had left for the North, a business owner who was now even taking on extra staff to manage all the work she brought in. Recognising this transformation made Kel smile, and she changed the subject to happier matters. "Now tell me about the work you've been doing for Queen Thayet. A little bird tells me you made her dress for the Prince's wedding..."

* * *

The next few days passed by without any sign that the Yamani mage was doing anything out of the ordinary, aside from displaying the kind of innate understanding of the Tortallan language and manners that Kel would usually only expect from Shinko and Yuki - and certainly not from someone who, when Kel had last known of her, had been utterly against learning anything outside of Yamani magic and traditions. While that in itself seemed odd, neither the sparrows, nor Lalasa's friends in the servant's quarters, spotted anything unusual about Sato's behaviour or movements around the palace. Kel even enlisted Tobe and Jump to let her know if anything seemed strange around the stables and palace grounds, where Tobe had been happily enlisted by Stefan Groomsman to "put some sense into" some of the pickier stallions among the palace horses, as he put it. But nothing odd seemed to be happening at all.

Kel would have been able to convince herself that all of the nervous tension she couldn't shake was just the result of a meaningless nightmare. Except that something really did seem off where Shinko was concerned. Kel made a point to try to spend as much time with her as possible, and concerningly, her strange moment of blankness at the Opening Ball seemed to be just the start. At dinner the next night, Kel sat opposite her and Roald, and was dismayed to see her friend once again, for a moment, seem to disappear - quickly enough that Roald barely noticed, only asking her if she needed some water. Kel, however, saw not just Shinko's face fall, but also the moment of confusion in her eyes as she came back to herself. It was truly as if, for a few seconds, she was not in her own body.

Unfortunately, Kel couldn't spend as much time with Shinko as she wanted, and with increasing frustration, never got a chance to spend time with her alone. When she went down to the yard to practice with her glaive and think things over the next morning, she was pleased and dismayed to find Queen Thayet, Buri, her mother, Shinko, and Yuki waiting for her.

"I spotted you coming back yesterday morning, and thought it would be an excellent idea to join you," Thayet said, half apologetically, half mischievously. "It's been far too long since I last practiced with a glaive, and I'm sure I'm horribly out of practice, but there's no time like the present to catch up!"

Her mother simply grinned at her, and Kel resigned herself to losing her thinking time. Still, she had missed these morning sessions. It seemed the others had too. They pushed each other hard - despite Queen Thayet's insistence that she hadn't practiced in years, she held up well against the others - and by the time they finished Kel was sweaty and smiling. As they headed out of the yard together to clean up before a well-deserved breakfast, she realised cheerfully that she had not noticed Shinko having any kind of "moment", and she had almost forgotten about the bad dream and her unshakeable suspicions.

The rest of the day and the following days leading up to Midwinter were better. Aside from noticing that Shinko almost always had a moment of blankness over dinner (when, Kel's suspicious mind noted, the Yamani mage was always present nearby... But then, so was half the court), Kel's days were almost too full to dwell too much on her ongoing internal argument as to whether or not she was imagining trouble where there was none. Glaive practice took up all the time before breakfast, and invariably after breakfast was over, one or another of her friends would seek her out.

First, it was Owen, determined to test his skills with a sword against hers "now that we're both proper knights" as he explained. He was far better than he had ever been before, too, and Kel lost one bout and won the other, after which Owen breathlessly and laughingly declared it a draw and insisted on buying her a drink - which Kel insisted be the warmed, spiced juice that was popular in Corus around Midwinter, rather than anything alcoholic.

The same day, Merric, who had watched their morning duel, challenged her as well.

"But you've been fighting beside me for the last three years," Kel said, bemused.

"Ah, I see, you think you'll lose," Merric said with a teasing grin, and Kel sighed as Neal immediately started taking bets. She knew Merric's fighting style intimately, and he hers, so their duel was even closer matched than hers with Owen. It would have been another draw - Kel winning the first bout, Merric the second - but Neal insisted "for his patrons" that they declare a winner. Kel won the final bout with a lucky thrust that left Merric unbalanced, after which she took him down with a quick kick to the shins.

"That was definitely cheating," he said, but with nothing but good humour in his voice. They shook hands and walked, both grinning, over to where a small crowd had formed around Neal, including Roald and Shinko, Yuki, and Buri and Raoul.

"You just won me a gold noble," the latter said, winking at Kel, who did her best to look outraged.

"You bet on me?" she said, raising an eyebrow at her former knightmaster, as Roald slapped her on the back in congratulation.

"Good fight!" he said, approvingly. "Now, I did say I'd take on the winner..."

Kel raised an eyebrow. "Well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm supposed to be on holiday!" she said firmly. _Or I was, until I started jumping at shadows…_ Even that thought couldn't mar her cheerful mood - at least until she suddenly noticed Shinko next to Roald, and felt that now familiar sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. Once again, her friend was pale-faced and staring, and in the second before she suddenly blinked and turned to Roald, Kel could have sworn that she had seen her friend's shadow _moving_ \- even though Shinko had been standing stock-still.

"Are you cold, my love?" Roald asked with concern, seeing Shinko's pale face. For a moment, Shinko again looked confused, as if she didn't quite know where she was, but then she nodded.

"Time for some tea, I think!" Roald decided, cheerily, and grinned at Kel, not noticing that her face was now almost as pale as Shinko's. "Tomorrow, Kel - although you shouldn't all wear yourselves out before the Midwinter tournament!"

"Tournament?" Kel mouthed to Neal, confused, as they followed the Prince back into the Palace.

"Jousting tournament, on Midwinter Day!" Neal replied. "It was announced at dinner last night - don't you pay attention at all, Mindelan?"

Kel elbowed him for his haughty tone, but Merric's words from behind her caught her by surprise. "I've already entered us all, anyway," he said. "It'll be like old times!"

From her left, Raoul laughed. "None of you could beat Kel back then - I'm sure that won't have changed now!"

Kel groaned. "No more betting on me!" She tried looking pleadingly at Buri, but the K'miri woman just grinned at her.

* * *

Before Midwinter and the tournament arrived, Kel did her best to continue watching Shinko. Something in her gut told her that if anything would happen, it would be on Midwinter, the shortest, darkest, and coldest day of the year - but since she still had no real idea of _what,_ exactly, she was looking for, she hoped against hope that she would get some kind of clue before then. Still, she tried to convince herself that she was just imagining what she had seen. Or perhaps Shinko was pregnant, and Kel was just reading things into totally ordinary behaviour? For the most part, though, she still managed to enjoy herself with her friends.

She duelled with Roald, who beat her - although he claimed she had gone easy on him - and in the afternoon found herself cornered by Quinden of Marti's Hill, who she had last seen on her way to Rathaussak, when his patrol had passed them by without even noticing their presence. On her return to Tortallan soil, she had reported it - she'd had no real choice, since if they'd been the enemy, both Quinden and all his men would have been dead. While it was up to Quinden if he wanted to hurry along his own death, leading the men under your command into what amounted to a self-made trap was something she couldn't overlook. It seemed that her report had been the final straw for Quinden's position as a patrol captain, and he had spent the remainder of the Scanran War acting as a glorified clerk at Fort Mastiff.

Quinden, however, seemed to hold her fully responsible for his punishment. "I hope you're happy, _lump,_ " he hissed. "Got them all fawning over you now. Who did you have to take to your bed for them to name you the hero?"

Kel felt cold anger fill her chest, but let her Yamani mask settle over her features until she could feign disinterest. "If you're looking for someone to blame for your own lack of heroism, you should look in a mirror," she retorted calmly. "I've only done what any good knight would." _And none of it involved anybody's bed other than my own_ , she thought a little sadly, remembering her stunted romance with Cleon, and Dom's handsome face.

For a moment, she thought Quinden would challenge her like the others - although she doubted any duel with him would be friendly at this point - but he grunted, and stalked off angrily, leaving her wondering what she could expect from him if she saw him outside of the Palace.

She shrugged off the thought, and, realising she had not seen Shinko all day, went to find her, and ended up drinking Yamani _matcha_ with the princess and Yuki. Shinko was her usual self until just as Kel was leaving - when again, her face paled, her mouth drooped, and, even more alarmingly, her shadow twitched away from her, as if it were trying to escape. After a second, Shinko coughed, and Yuki, who had been tending to the tea, asked if she was all right in a voice which told Kel she had noticed nothing really amiss.

As Kel left Shinko's chambers, she noticed Sato, hurrying away down the corridor.


	5. The Midwinter Tournament

At dawn on Midwinter morning Kel met the others for glaive practice as usual, and as her body moved through the steps of the pattern dance, her mind mulled over what she had seen in the past few days. The closest word she could think of to describe what she'd seen in the dream, what she was becoming more and more convinced was happening to Shinko, was that she was becoming _ikiryo._ The word was a Yamani one, something Kel had heard in old stories during her childhood on the Islands, where the spirit of a living person exited their body to exact vengeance on others. _That doesn't quite fit_ , Kel reminded herself. _I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with Shinko herself. It has to be being done to her by someone else._ Still, her suspicion of the Yamani mage was compounded by the fact that she couldn't think of any similar magic or myth that she'd ever heard of in Tortall or anywhere else to describe what she'd seen in the dream. Or what she'd seen with Shinko's shadow, for that matter. _Or I'm just going mad, and nothing is happening to anyone at all_ , she thought.

Finishing the pattern dance, she glanced across at Shinko. The princess was flush-faced with the exercise and smiling, her motions with the glaive neat and graceful. There was no sign anything was wrong with her at this moment, and it still seemed like nobody else had noticed anything amiss. Shinko finished her own sequence, and stopped, noticing Kel watching her. She half-opened her mouth, as if about to speak, but then Thayet's voice interrupted them.

"No time for sparring this morning! The tournament begins after breakfast," she announced. After wiping down their weapons, the group of women thus headed early towards the dining hall, Yuki companionably linking her arm with Shinko's.

* * *

Over breakfast, she thought about the Midwinter gifts she planned to give her friends and family the next morning - her parents and her brother Anders were all in Corus, and she also had gifts for Neal and Yuki, Merric, Owen, and Raoul. It was a good thing she had finished wrapping them, since, after finishing her meal of fresh bread, cheese, and fruit, she had no time to do anything other than prepare for her first joust. As Owen reminded her, she was up second for her first round. The palace mages had prepared a tournament field just outside the city's gates, clearing away snow and making heated stone blocks to place under the spectator's benches. With the grass visible and many coloured flags and banners flying from poles planted behind the stands, it would almost have felt spring-like, if it weren't for the biting cold.

Merric was up first, facing off against Quinden, who toppled him from his horse quickly, and gave him a cold glare. Kel was saddling up Peachblossom as Merric returned from the field, dusting himself off.

"Ah well," he said. "I suppose I'm more used to fighting Scanrans from horseback these days. Give me a sword any day!"

Kel shrugged and climbed onto Peachblossom's back. She wasn't sure what her jousting skills would be like now, either. The days of tournaments with Sir Raoul seemed like a very long time ago, somehow. She was therefore somewhat surprised when she easily knocked her first opponent from his horse, her yearmate Esmond of Nicoline - and even more surprised when she did the same with the second, a seasoned knight from an Eastern fief who she remembered from tournaments of years gone by as being a regular prize winner. By her third win, she had come to the conclusion that jousting must be largely a matter of muscle memory, since it wasn't as if she had had much chance to practice during her years on the northern border.

Owen also won his first three rounds, the third of which saw him knock the Lioness from her horse. Owen looked half-ready to apologise as he dismounted and courteously helped her from the dirt, but Alanna simply laughed. "It's been a long time since I did much practice at the tilting lanes. Clearly I need to do some catching up!"

Only four knights remained in the competition: Owen, Kel, Raoul, who had unseated Prosper in the third round, and Quinden, who after Merric had bested a Bazhir knight Kel didn't know, followed by Garvey's former knightmaster, Sir Jerel. Now Owen was to face Raoul, and Kel Quinden. The latter pair would go first.

Kel nudged Peachblossom towards the tilting lane, focusing her attention on Quinden and his horse at the other end of the field, rather than on the cheering crowds in the stands, or her own thoughts about the Chamber and Shinko, which kept threatening to disturb her concentration. She didn't want to lose to Quinden, particularly not after his behaviour towards her earlier in the week.

At the signal, both pushed their mounts to a charge. Kel frowned as she realised that Quinden was riding at her full out, the same glare on his face that he had worn all day. She twisted aside to avoid his lance at the last minute, her own lance bouncing harmlessly off his shield - misjudging his speed like that had not left her any opportunity to unhorse him. She spun around for a second charge, and pushed Peachblossom to a no-holds-barred gallop. This time, she was prepared for Quinden's speed, and her lance hit his shield perfectly in the centre - and shattered. Quinden's clipped the right side of her own shield, numbing her side and causing her to twist sharply to avoid being skewered. As Peachblossom reached the other side of the field, she half wondered what was wrong with his aim - he had never been one to miss so badly in their years as pages.

She slowed up Peachblossom and was handed a fresh lance from the field monitor, and gulped some water, waiting for the numbness in her side to subside before her final run. In the stands, she could see Neal and Yuki, the former giving her an encouraging wave, and near to them, Roald and Shinko with the King and Queen. Wiping her brow, she replaced her helmet and readied herself for a final charge. _I am a lake,_ she told herself firmly. Quinden could glare and miss all he liked. She wouldn't let him unnerve her.

Seeing that Quinden was also ready, she waited for the signal, then whispered to Peachblossom. "Charge." This time, she felt the rightness of his muscles moving beneath her, the perfect balance of the lance in her hand, and the surety of her focus on Quinden's shield. As they came together, her lance caught it in the sweet spot, lifting him up and out of his seat - just as his lance slammed into her ribcage. She dropped her lance, slammed back against the pommel of her saddle and breathlessly winded, as Quinden flew through the air. Peachblossom slowed to a walk as she slumped over, struggling for air and seeing stars. She slipped from his back and found herself caught by familiar hands - Neal and Owen, propping her up while Neal did something that made her breathing immediately easier again.

"What was _that?_ " he asked, outraged, as she took deep, relieved, breaths, feeling a large bruise blossoming across her lower ribs as she did so. "That could have killed you! What was he doing, trying to run you through?"

Kel breathed deeply again, and looked at Neal's angry face and Owen's uncharacteristically serious one. "I don't know," she said, her voice sounding frustratingly faint. She glanced over to where Quinden was being helped from the field. It looked as though he, too, required some healing. "But it doesn't matter. I still won."

Neal looked as though he half wanted to drag Quinden back from the healers and interrogate him, but Owen put a hand on his shoulder. "Leave it, Neal," he said. "Kel dealt with him. And she has one last bout to win." He grinned at her. "You'd better go catch your breath. It'd be jolly to joust against you, if I can unseat Sir Raoul!"

Kel wished him luck, although she thought his chances were slim - hers too, for that matter, since if Raoul won she would face him in the final bout - but her thoughts were troubled as she retreated to a small tent beside the stands, thinking to apply bruise balm to her ribs and adjust her armour. She hadn't wanted to stoke Neal's anger further, in case he did something hasty, but she was pretty sure Quinden had been _aiming_ for her ribs, not for her shield. It was good that she had unhorsed him when she had, or she really could have been seriously hurt. But was one report to Lord Wyldon, three years earlier, really enough to push him into trying to kill her? And if so, would he try again?

She winced as she removed her jerkin and carefully applied the bruise balm to her ribs. Quinden apparently trying to kill her, and mysterious possible magery threatening Shinko and Tortall... This Midwinter was shaping to be the most stressful she'd ever experienced.


	6. Shinko

Kel was just buttoning up her jerkin again when the flap of the tent twitched. "I'm _fine_ , Neal," she called, exasperatedly, but any further convincing of Neal she might have tried to do was broken off when, instead of Neal's angular form, Shinko slipped inside the tent instead.

"Kel," she said softly. "I think I need your help."

Kel gestured to her to sit down at the small table where she had been using the bruise balm. Shinko took the seat without any of her usual grace. Although Shinko had the usual emotionless expression that all Yamani nobility mastered from birth, Kel could see dark circles around her friend's eyes, and small lines of tension around her mouth.

"You've noticed, haven't you?" Shinko asked, abruptly. "There is something wrong with me."

 _I am a lake_ , Kel thought, carefully trying to school her thought and emotions into calm. She still wasn't sure if it was wise to tell Shinko what the Chamber had shown her - not just because she didn't yet really _know_ anything, but also because she really didn't want to scare her friend before she also had some kind of solution. And yet here Shinko was.

"I know you've noticed," Shinko went on. "Once, sometimes twice a day for the past week, I have suddenly found myself not quite knowing where I am, or what somebody is saying to me."

Kel stopped herself from biting her lip. "Perhaps you're unwell?" she suggested, hating the Chamber and whoever was causing this for putting them both in this situation.

Shinko let out a small, humourless laugh. "That is what Roald thinks," she said. "Actually, I think he thinks I am pregnant." She looked Kel in the eyes. "But I don't feel unwell otherwise… I feel totally normal, until it happens, and then it's as if I were asleep, or in a faint. I don't remember what people have said to me. And when it happened the last time, and the time before, I felt almost as if something were pulling at me - at my mind, just as I came back to myself."

Kel took a deep breath. "I noticed," she admitted. "I thought I was imagining things, since nobody else seemed to."

Shinko gave a small but genuine smile. "That is because you are a true friend," she said, and Kel could tell from the seriousness of her tone that she meant it.

"I don't know much about magic," Kel said, carefully picking her words while her mind churned. If Shinko thought something was wrong too, then maybe the dream was a real warning. And the implications of _that_ made cold fear well up in the pit of her stomach. "But I did notice something. When you blanked out the last couple of times, there was something off about your shadow. It looked like it was moving away from you… but you weren't moving at all. The only explanation I can think of for that is mage-work." She could tell Shinko what she suspected without scaring her with tales of nightmares and visions from the Chamber, Kel decided.

Shinko stared at her, shocked. "My shadow? What could that possibly mean?" She looked down at the fan in her lap, a troubled expression on her face. Her eyes held none of their usual spark.

"I don't know," Kel said, equally troubled. "I've been trying to see if I could spot anyone doing anything suspicious around you, but so far, I haven't had much luck."

Shinko sighed. "I wish you'd told me earlier," she said, but without malice.

Kel looked at her friend, some of her guilt showing in her face, despite her best efforts to keep up her Yamani mask. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't want to say anything, in case it really was nothing, just my suspicions and guesswork. I thought I was jumping at shadows, to be honest."

Shinko reached out and took her hand. "I understand, Kel," she said. "I don't blame you. I will also start watching for anything suspicious. And even if we don't know anything, I think we should tell Roald, and the King. The Palace has resources that could…."

Her voice trailed off as her face paled, and Kel felt the curling fear in her stomach as Shinko's face went blank in that now all-too-familiar manner. "Shinko!" Kel called quietly, and shook her friend gently by the shoulders. Shock made her let go, though, and stare at the wall, as Shinko's shadow rippled. As Kel watched, horrified, the shadow strained, then ripped slowly away from its connection to Shinko's feet, and drifted towards the wall. "Shinko!" she called again, urgently. "You have to wake up!"

Shinko coughed, and the blood began to return to her cheeks. Suddenly, her shadow was where it had been before, as if nothing had happened. She started as she found herself eye to eye with Kel, whose hands were still on her shoulders. "It happened again, didn't it?" she said, her voice quivering a little and her fear showing on her face in the trembling of her lip. That, more than anything, told Kel just how afraid her friend really was, and she pulled her into a hug.

"We'll work out what's doing this," she promised. _And while this is scary enough, if the dream was real - if the Vision was real - then the threat to Tortall is even more terrifying,_ she thought, trying to quell the fear she felt herself.

Before either of them could say anything more, a battered looking Owen pulled open the tent flap and grinned cheerfully at them. "Well, I haven't flown like that in a good while," he said, and chuckled. "It was pretty jolly to joust against Sir Raoul, though! Remind me never to challenge him."

Kel gave Shinko what she hoped was a reassuring look, that they could continue their conversation later, and tried to grin at Owen. "I suppose it's my turn to fly, then?" she said, trying to sound light-hearted.

Owen nodded. "They were just tidying the lanes as I left. You should probably go and get ready. Enjoy the view!" he said jokingly, then groaned as he lowered himself into the chair that Shinko had just vacated.

"I should return to the stands, then," Shinko said quietly, and slipped back out of the tent quickly.

Kel pushed her bruise balm towards Owen. "This stuff's good," she said, grabbing her helm before following Shinko out of the tent.

Outside, she glanced left, to where Shinko was headed, and almost jumped as she realized that Sato, the Yamani mage, walked with her. She had to have joined her almost outside the tent! Kel's eyes narrowed as she watched them walk away, until her focus was broken by someone calling her name.

"Lady Knight Keladry! Are you ready for the final joust?"

* * *

As Kel mounted Peachblossom and tried to focus her attention on Raoul, images from the vision the Chamber had showed her danced around her head. She took a breath and tried to clear her mind. _Embarrassing yourself in front of Raoul, and everyone else, won't help matters in the slightest_ , she tried to tell herself. _Especially since Raoul will know instantly that something is up if I make a silly mistake!_ She rested a hand on Peachblossom's neck, feeling his pulse against her fingers, and tried again to clear her thoughts.

After a minute, she felt a little less distracted, and more determined not to embarrass herself or her former knight master with her showing on the field. She nudged Peachblossom to a walk, took up her position at the opposite end of the tilting lane to Raoul, and readied the lance handed to her by the field monitor. At her signal, Peachblossom took off along the field, and Kel let her troubled thoughts momentarily fly away as she focused only on Raoul's shield.

Both lances hit their mark, but neither found the sweet spot to lift the other out of their saddle. At the other end of the lane, Peachblossom wheeled around, ready for another charge. Kel patted his neck and, despite herself, glanced over at the stands. Shinko was now sat next to Sato, still in conversation, and all the worries Kel had left behind with the first charge came flooding back. Before she could get a handle on them again, the field monitor gave the signal. "Charge," she murmured to Peachblossom tensely.

She knew her focus was off even as Peachblossom started to gallop. As her lance bounced harmlessly off the left side of Raoul's shield, she felt herself slammed out of her saddle and bounce into the grass. For the second time that day, she tried to catch her breath, although this time she was only winded from the impact of her behind on the grass. After a moment, Raoul appeared, and offered her a hand up.

"I thought for sure you'd best me," he said jovially. "Good thing Neal wouldn't let me bet against myself, eh?"

Kel mock-glared at him, unsure if he was joking or not - she'd have to ask Neal later - and let him pull her to her feet.

* * *

After ensuring their horses were rewarded for their hard work with a rub-down and a brush, Kel and Raoul were, as the winner and runner-up, required to return to the field to be presented with their prizes. As they left the stables, they shared a resigned glance, both knowing the other would rather not be involved in anything ceremonial.

Kel, in particular, wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible, so that she could talk to Shinko again. As Raoul was awarded his prize by King Jonathan, she watched her friend, who was now stood next to Roald. Sato was seated directly behind them, and Kel couldn't stop herself from repeatedly glancing at her, trying to work out if she possibly could be working some kind of magic on the princess, or not.

"And the runner-up prize goes to Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan!"

At the announcement of her name, Kel was ushered forward to stand before Roald and Shinko, so that the prince could give her her prize: fifty gold nobles in a red velvet bag. She bowed, Yamani-style, to the royal heirs, before accepting it. "Well done, Kel," Roald said, but before he could continue, Shinko's face again went pale, mouth drooping and eyes rolling back. Kel's horror must have shown on her face, for Roald stopped speaking, his face losing colour as well as he saw Shinko's state. As he began calling Shinko's name, trying to awaken her from her trance-like state, Kel looked down at Shinko's shadow, and was aghast to see that, where it should have been, the grass was turning black and crumbling away around Shinko's feet.

Quickly, she looked up, and, over Shinko's shoulder, her eyes met those of the Yamani mage.

"You!" she began, all her suspicions confirmed. Almost every time she had seen Shinko in this state, Sato had been close by - and while the mage had been putting on a good act of having learned Tortallan manners and seeming interested in getting to know the people of its court, Kel couldn't believe that someone who had been so renowned for shunning everything but Yamani traditions could so completely change their mind, even after a decade.

Before she could voice her thoughts any further, however, the mage's eyes flashed a warning and she began to chant loudly in Yamani. The concerned whispers of the crowd, the panicked look on Roald's face, and the confused questions from the King and Queen intensified into a panic, as all began to assume the same thing Kel had: whatever was happening to Princess Shinkokami, the mysterious mage from the Yamani Islands was responsible. Now she was incanting a spell over her, in plain sight of everyone!

Only Kel and, a few seats away, Yuki, realized what was truly happening. The mage's words were not a curse or an offensive spell. In fact, as Kel heard the chant, she immediately knew she had to have been wrong. "It's a spell of protection," she cried to Roald, as his hand reached for his sword, his other hand still gripping Shinko's wrist. "A powerful one! Whatever is happening to Shinko, it's not her doing it!"

She could hear Yuki shouting similar things to the crowd around them, as the shouts and confusion grew louder and more panicked. From behind her, Kel heard another familiar voice.

"The mage is attacking the princess! We must stop her!" Quinden pushed through the growing crowd towards the royals, sword drawn.

Before Kel could think about what she was doing, she had drawn her own sword and stepped in front of Shinko, Roald, and the mage, facing down Quinden.

"Mindelan!" he roared. "You would protect this sorceress, when she attacks Tortall?"

Kel blocked his sword strike easily. "You don't speak Yamani - I do! She's protecting her, Quinden! Stand down!" Her last words held the echo of her three years of command, and Quinden hesitated, a part of him automatically responding to the authority in her voice, despite his dislike of her.

From beside her, she heard Raoul's deeper voice, backing her up. "If Kel says that the mage is not the threat, then she is not the threat. Stand down, Marti's Hill, before you do something you'll regret." There was an implied _again_ in Raoul's words, obvious to Kel - and seemingly also to Quinden, who lowered his sword, but glared at Raoul with extreme dislike on his face. Alanna appeared behind him, one hand on her sword, ready to step in if necessary. Unlike everyone else, her eyes were fixed on Kel.

Behind her, she heard Shinko - _finally_ \- cough. "What's happening?" she said, faintly.

"That's what we would all like to know," said King Jonathan, grimly, and Kel knew that she could put off explanations no longer.


	7. Explanations

They filed into the King's Council's chamber and seated themselves around the heavy oak table: King Jonathan and Queen Thayet, the King frowning heavily; Shinko, pale-faced and twisting her fan nervously in her hands (Kel could tell she was resisting the very Yamani urge to hide her face behind it); either side of her, Prince Roald, concernedly gazing at his wife, and Yuki, worry removing all trace of her usual sparkle. Next to Yuki sat Neal, whose thoughtful frown told Kel that he was quickly reaching conclusions about what had just happened that she was sure would lead to him confronting her later. She felt a stab of guilt in her stomach - of all people, Neal would be upset that she hadn't told him about the dream of the Chamber, particularly after their shared experiences at Rathaussak. She couldn't have told him, though, without Yuki finding out - and Yuki was incapable of hiding anything from Shinko.

On the other side of the Queen sat Alanna, the Yamani mage, Raoul, and finally, between Raoul and Neal, Kel herself. Kel looked down at the table. She wasn't sure she could trust herself to maintain her mask if she looked at either Raoul or Neal right now. The King coughed. "This was not quite how I anticipated the tournament ending," he said seriously. "I would very much appreciate an explanation as to what just happened."

Sato calmly straightened the front of her silk tunic, and stood noiselessly. Kel glanced up at her. The mage's face was expressionless - even Kel, used to reading the tiny hints of emotion in Yamani faces, could not discern what she might be thinking.

"I had been aware for some days of some odd magic around the Princess," she began, and Kel hastily ensured her own face was as emotionless as the mage's. _I was right,_ she thought. _Just… also wrong._

Sato told the silently listening circle how she had noticed Shinko's blank moments, and seen hints of some strange magic around her. "I was not, however, sure if it was Tortallan in origin," she said.

Ronald frowned, and leaned forward. "You mean, you thought that perhaps one of _our_ mages had bespelled Shinko?" he asked, mildly.

Sato's face did not change. "I have not…" her tone shifted, a note of discomfort entering her voice. "I have not made much study of mage-work outside of our own in the Yamani Islands," she admitted. "Until my Emperor commanded me here, in the name of strengthening the treaty between our two nations with an exchange of scholarship, I had resolved to dedicate myself solely to Yamani traditions."

 _Well, that explains that, then,_ Kel thought. Her memories of Sato had been correct - but an order from the Yamani Emperor was absolute.

"I hastily made a study of your language and customs," Sato continued. Kel saw Alanna glance at Raoul with a raised eyebrow, and wondered herself what the mage could achieve with something she had not just 'hastily' studied.

"After your Highness's gracious welcome here, I have nevertheless begun to realize just how advanced your own mages' knowledge and skills are," she continued, bowing to King Jonathan. "Particularly, I have enjoyed working with Numair Salmalín. As a result of our discussions, I realized yesterday that the magic surrounding Princess Shinkokami was not of Tortallan origin. Nor," she looked firmly at Prince Roald. "Nor is it Yamani. Beyond that, I have yet to ascertain, since I did not have an opportunity to directly examine the Princess."

Kel barely noticed that the silence in the room had been broken by that revelation. Her head was spinning. Before she had time to get her thoughts in order, however, she heard her name.

"Lady Knight Keladry was also aware that Princess Shinkokami was under a spell," Sato said. Suddenly, all eyes were on Kel.

"Lady Knight?" the King said, his tone demanding a response.

Kel got to her feet, feeling Neal's disappointed eyes boring into her, along with the concerned and confused gazes of her other friends. "I didn't know for sure until today, either," she said, wincing at the way it sounded like an excuse. She took a deep breath and let her eyes rest on Shinko, whose expression, despite the shock she had experienced, seemed more encouraging than the rest. "The night before the Opening Ball, I had a dream," she explained. "I dreamt that I went into the Chamber of Ordeal, and that it showed me a vision - a vision of Shinko, and of the ruin of Tortall." She looked away from Shinko, and found a blank patch of wall to stare at instead. She couldn't bring herself to look at any of her friends while thinking about what she'd seen. It still felt too vivid, and horrific.

She took another breath and continued, blocking out the audible gasps of her listeners. "I thought it was just a dream, but it didn't fade away like dreams usually do. I tried to forget it, but then I kept noticing that Shinko had moments where she seemed… _off_ , somehow. Like she wasn't there."

"As Sato described," King Jonathan said, looking for confirmation. "And as we saw today."

Kel nodded. "Yes, but not as bad as today. At first, it was just like she was thinking deeply about something and ignoring everyone - except it was in the middle of a conversation, and I know Shinko. It's not like you," she added, giving her friend a small smile. "Anyway, after seeing her do that once or twice, I began to wonder if it wasn't just a dream - if maybe the Chamber was warning me about something. But I couldn't go and ask it, because the Ordeals were taking place every night."

The King frowned again. So did Neal, who also looked quite hurt. Kel knew his frown was for quite a different reason to the King, and felt again a pang of guilt for not telling him.

" _Ask_ the Chamber?" Jonathan asked, his tone losing its earlier patience. "What do you mean?"

Kel sighed. _You have no choice now_ , she told herself, although her inner voice sounded suspiciously like that of the Chamber. She half-wondered if it had intended things to play out like this all along, some strange game of its own that she was just a pawn in. Folding her hands behind her back, she explained, as briefly as she was able, the full story behind the death of Blayce the Gallan and her rescue of the children of Haven. Although her original report had explained that the Chamber had shown her Blayce and Stenmun before hand, and given her a quest, for some reason nobody had ever asked her about it. She had always wondered if something had somehow prevented others from noticing that part, or remembering it - perhaps the Chamber itself. Now it had to come out anyway.

She could practically feel the questions in the air, and knew that, at the very least, she was going to have to explain herself to Neal and Raoul after this, and probably to Roald, Shinko, and Yuki as well. The only person who didn't look confused (or angry) was Alanna, who if anything looked smug, although Kel couldn't for the life of her imagine why.

"So the Chamber has given you a quest before," the King asked slowly, his eyes narrow. "And you chose not to mention this!"

Kel sighed. "It was in my report after Rathaussak," she said, as calmly as she was able. "But when no-one ever commented on it or mentioned it again, I couldn't help but wonder if the Chamber was somehow able to affect whether or not people knew about that part. I thought perhaps it didn't want anyone to know it had sent me."

The King looked incredibly troubled, but before he could say anything else, Sato broke in, bowing deeply. "If I may, your Highness?" she said politely. The King nodded, mutely, clearly still trying to process all he had heard without exploding.

"I would still like to discover what magic, exactly, is affecting the Princess," she said. "And quickly, if whatever has been done to her will also spread to all of Tortall, as the Lady Knight's vision implies. Therefore, I have two suggestions." King Jonathan nodded again for her to continue. "Firstly, I would like to work with Numair Salmalín and Princess Shinkokami, to both discover who is behind this, and protect her from any further effects. Secondly, I would suggest that Your Highness and Lady Knight Keladry, perhaps along with others in this room, go and talk to this Chamber, to discover what it has to say."

All those in the room who had been through the Ordeal of Knighthood paled at the suggestion, even Kel. Usually, a knight had only two interactions with the Chamber: once as a squire, touching the door, and again at their Ordeal. Only Kel had been foolish enough to touch the door more than once; only Kel had gone back inside the Chamber a second time. It wasn't the thought of going back inside that made her pale - it was the thought of seeing the vision she had been shown for a second time, and of anyone else being forced to see it.

The King stood. "Very well." He called in a servant. "Fetch Numair here - tell him it's urgent." He looked at Sato, eyes serious. "I hope you can work quickly to protect the Princess - and the realm. I thank you for your efforts so far."

"I'll stay here with Shinko and the mages," Thayet offered.

"I will also stay," Yuki added.

"Thank you," Shinko said softly, her face now Yamani-calm, but her tone belying her remaining fear.

Jonathan turned back to Kel. "You and I will enter the Chamber, and see what it has to say. It is fortunate that there is never an Ordeal on Midwinter's Day itself."

Roald stood up. "I'll come too," he said. "If this concerns the safety of both my wife, and Tortall, then I cannot sit by and wait for answers from others."

The King looked, for a moment, as if he wanted to say no, but then nodded.

* * *

In the end, Kel, King Jonathan, Prince Roald, Raoul, Neal, and Alanna all entered the Chapel that held the door to the Chamber of Ordeal. The latter three, they had agreed, would stand guard outside while Kel, the King, and Roald entered the Chamber - ostensibly to prevent anybody interfering while they were inside, although each knew that for all they knew, it was also possible something could come _out_.

Somehow, it was worse, seeing the vision inside the real Chamber rather than a dream version. If Kel had still been trying to convince herself it was just a dream, this was the final nail in the coffin of _that_ idea. As they exited the Chamber, she had to breathe deeply to prevent her breakfast from making an unwelcome return, and the pale faces of the others told her they felt much the same.

"There is a magical threat to Tortall," the King told Raoul, Neal, and Alanna. He looked at Kel. "Was that what you saw in your dream?"

Kel nodded. "Yes, sir," she said, wishing it were not true.

"Gods," Jonathan said softly.


	8. Mage-Work

Kel spent the afternoon with Neal, trying to explain to him why she hadn't told him about her dream earlier.

"I didn't know for sure that it wasn't just a dream until Shinko found me before my joust against Raoul!" she told him. "I didn't see the point in terrifying anyone other than myself before then!"

Neal had still looked hurt, although she could see that he believed her. "I just wish you'd told me," he repeated. "I thought you'd learned, after Rathaussak - you don't _have_ to deal with everything by yourself. You have friends, you know."

Kel sighed. "I know," she said quietly. "And if I'd had something concrete to fight against, I would have told you in an instant. But for all I knew this was just some weird nightmare that was making me jump at shadows."

Neal looked resigned. "All right," he said. "I forgive you. But I still think you should have told me," he added stubbornly, with a small glint in his eye that told Kel he was now teasing her.

Kel gave him a grin.

* * *

Late that evening, the group met again in the Council chamber. In the corridor, Alanna grabbed Kel before she could go in. "I feel like I should eat my words from after your Ordeal," she said, grinning at Kel. "I see the gods left you alone all through your training, and then decided you were far too special to let be as soon as you were done!"

Kel wasn't sure how to take that. "I'm not sure the Chamber has anything to do with the gods," she said. "And really, I think I'd rather be let alone, all things considered."

Alanna put a hand on her shoulder, her expression becoming more serious. "Whether it's a god, an elemental, or something else entirely, I think it's picked you as its champion," she said. "I know it's not easy, but - don't doubt yourself. You've never had an easy path, and you've done admirably."

Kel felt herself redden as she saw the respect in the Lioness' eyes - how many times had she dreamt of seeing that during her years living in the Palace! Before she could respond, however, Alanna winked at her, and disappeared through the door to the Council chamber. Kel forced away the blush, and followed.

When they had all gathered around the oak table, this time with the addition of Numair, King Jonathan addressed them. "We have confirmed Keladry's vision. The threat to Princess Shinkokami is real, as is the threat to Tortall. The vision was not -" he paused, and swallowed, "- it was not clear exactly who is doing this, nor what exactly they were doing."

Across the table, Raoul frowned. Kel knew he hated this sort of mystery - like herself, he would much rather face an enemy he could meet in a fight or battle. "What sort of threat did the vision show?"

Jonathan paled a little. "Perhaps it's easiest just to say that the vision seems to be more metaphorical than a direct representation of what we can expect," he said. "I'll spare you the exact details - I don't believe we'll be able to work out how to protect against this from the vision alone."

"I agree," Roald added, his hand tightly wrapped around Shinko's. Kel nodded as well. The last thing she wanted was to have Shinko hear what they had seen, or anyone else in the room. If Roald wanted to tell her later, alone - or if she wanted to know - that was their decision.

The King turned to Sato and Numair, who sat together between Raoul and Alanna. "Have you discovered anything that might help?" he asked.

Sato glanced at Numair, and nodded. "We have examined Princess Shinkokami, and we believe we have found a possible cause for the spell, and also where the spell has come from."

"I confirmed Sato's hypothesis," Numair added. "The spell is neither of Tortallan nor of Yamani origin. Nor does it originate from Scanra, Galla or the Copper Isles."

The King frowned. "If not them, then where is it from?"

"Tyra, we think," Numair said. "Lady Sato has never met a Tyran mage, which is why she didn't recognize it, but I have. While I don't recognize the mage behind it - it's not any of the black or red robe Tyran mages that I know of - it is almost certainly Tyran work."

"Tyra has no diplomatic relation with the Yamani Islands," Sato said. "But the _type_ of magic is one both Numair and I recognize. It is a spell that is activated and strengthened by touch. The spell must be keyed to an object that Princess Shinkokami comes into regular contact with - and each time she does, it grows more powerful. Similarly, whatever she then touches is tainted by the spell - and the greater its strength in her, the greater its effect on the things she herself touches."

Shinko paled, and looked at Roald, who was still holding her hand tight.

"Don't worry," Numair said kindly. "The spell is very weak right now - it shouldn't affect anyone else around you for the moment. We think that Sato's spell earlier was able to get rid of most of it, and that you haven't had contact with whatever it is that is re-spelling you since then."

Sato looked at the King. "The Princess must be found new chambers, clothing, we must be careful with her food and drink, while Numair and I search for the object that is the root of the spell."

"If we find that, we stand a good chance of finding the mage," Numair said.

The Queen smiled at Shinko. "You'll come to my chambers, of course," she said. "Between Yuki and I, we will find replacements for everything until the mages are finished with their work."

Shinko stood, and bowed deeply to the King and Queen, the mages, and Kel. Somehow, the truth of what was happening to her had helped her regain her inner strength. "Thank you, all of you," she said softly but firmly. To Sato and Numair, she added: "I give you leave to search through anything in my chambers, to find what is doing this. The safety of Tortall is what is most important."

The King stood, returning her bow - something that made Roald smile in surprise, despite his worry for Shinko.

Before the Queen, Shinko, and Yuki could leave, however, Numair spoke up again. "There is one further complication," he said. "Whoever is doing this must be placing new, bespelled objects near to the Princess every day or so. From what you all saw earlier today, the spell had already grown quite strong. That means it must have been being refreshed somehow - and with this kind of curse, that wouldn't be possible from a distance."

"So somebody in the Palace must be in on this," Raoul growled.

Numair nodded. "Yes, but the problem is that it is going to be practically impossible to discover who. The object could be tiny. Without disrupting all of the Midwinter festivities, as well as the Ordeals of Knighthood, for that matter, in order to stop the traffic of people in and out of the Palace, it will be very difficult to discover who has it."

Nobody had an answer to that, and the room fell silent, until Kel had an idea. "Numair, whoever is doing this will have to get the object close to Shinko, right?"

Both Numair and Sato nodded. "They will have to place it somewhere she will touch it regularly, without realizing," Sato said.

"Then I think I have an idea," Kel said, remembering what Neal had said about friends and giving him a quick, grateful grin. "Numair, could you and Daine meet me in my room, once we've finished here? I think my sparrows might be able to help us."

Neal grinned back at her, as the King said "Sparrows?" somewhat disbelievingly.

"Those sparrows have warned us of trouble more times than I'd care to admit," Raoul said.


	9. Treason

To the rest of the court, the next two days were completely normal. The morning after Midwinter Day, gifts were exchanged, and the usual parties and feasts continued to take place. Two squires passed the Ordeal of Knighthood and were knighted by the King, and a grand snowball fight took place in the courtyard between the pages and squires.

Only those who had heard Sato and Kel's explanations, as well as a few of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, were aware that Princess Shinkokami was now sleeping in the Queen's own chambers, and even the latter were not aware that Kel's sparrows were watching everyone who entered or exited Shinko's usual chambers, the Queen's chambers, as well as Shinko herself. After seeing the sparrow's enthusiasm to help Kel, Daine had agreed to explain to them what they needed to do. It wasn't until the third morning, though, that Nari had landed on Kel's arm, and chirped three times - their agreed signal that they had seen something suspicious.

Kel had just woken up. It was barely dawn, and the weak rising winter sun only let the barest hint of light through her shutters. "Nari?" she said, still slow with sleep. The sparrow fluttered her wings and chirped three times again. This time, Kel realized what was happening, and was suddenly fully awake. "You've found them? Where?"

The sparrow chirped again, and flew to the door. Kel hurriedly pulled on a tunic, leggings, and boots, as well as automatically strapping Griffin to her waist in its scabbard. After three years at war on the border, early morning alarm calls meant arming oneself. As she dressed, Tobe sleepily opened his eyes.

"Wha's happening?" he asked.

"Go back to sleep," Kel whispered. Fortunately, he didn't seem to be awake enough to argue, and rolled over. Jump, however, stood, yawning, and trotted to her heels. She stepped out of the door and into the corridor, where they were joined by three other sparrows. Kel looked at them. "I'll have as many dried cherries for you as you can eat, later," she promised. "But for now, find Numair and Sato, please? And bring them to wherever Nari is taking me?"

Nari chirped again, seemingly giving the other members of her flock her own instructions, for the sparrows chirped in response and flew away down the corridor. Nari flew a loop around Kel's head, and then headed in the opposite direction. Steeling herself, Kel followed, unsure exactly what - or who - she was going to find.

* * *

Kel hurried through the palace corridors after Nari. They had already passed Shinko's chambers, turning off into a side passage, and were now in a part of the palace she wasn't sure she'd ever visited before. Nobody else was around, and dust floated in the shafts of sunlight from the windows. It seemed like this wasn't a corridor that was used terribly often. She sped up as she heard a muffled voice, shouting obscenities in the distance.

"Get off me, gods-cursed birds!"

Kel couldn't help herself. She gasped as she rounded the corner and saw who was there, penned into an alcove by the other sparrows and Jump: Quinden of Marti's Hill, dressed in servant's clothing and scratched bloody by sharp beaks and claws. The sparrows were diving at his face, while Jump nipped at his ankles and growled, preventing him from running. He had his sword out, slashing wildly at them, but Nari's flock were used to avoiding blades and even arrows by now, and he had not struck any of them. Behind him, on the floor, lay a crumpled white sheet - what looked like bed linen.

"Quinden!" Kel said, disgust and sour betrayal rising in her throat. She had never imagined that her yearmate would do something like this, for all his dislike of her personally. "What are you doing?"

"Call off your animals!" Quinden spat out. "Agh!" Nari had joined the fray, getting in a lucky nip on his ear.

"Drop your sword," Kel said. "Then I'll call them off."

Quinden pushed his sword back into his sheath, covering his eyes with his arm against the flock's attacks. "There! Happy? Now call them off!"

Kel raised a hand, and the sparrows reluctantly flew back to her, landing on her shoulders and the edges of the alcove. Jump sat, but kept up a low growl, his eyes fixed on Quinden.

Kel lowered her hand, letting it rest casually on her sword, and kept her own eyes fixed firmly on Quinden. "Now. Tell me. What are you doing here?"

Quinden raised his chin defiantly, blue eyes narrow and cold. "Taking a walk," he said. "Until I was attacked by your menagerie! They should be put down!"

Kel felt anger rise in her gut. Did he really think she was stupid? _I am stone,_ she reminded herself. "I see," she said, keeping her tone flat. "And I suppose walking around the palace in the early hours always requires dressing yourself as if you were a servant, yet also carrying your sword?"

Quinden would not look her in the eye as he answered. He had always been cocky, but never a good liar. "What's it to you what I wear?" He faked a yawn. "If you must know, I was visiting a _lady friend_. I'm sure you know all about that, with all the whoring you've done in these walls."

 _That old chestnut_ , Kel thought, the old insult failing to enrage her as it once might have done. Still, it did nothing for the sour taste in her mouth that this conversation was already leaving her. "I see you brought the bed linen with you," she observed coldly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Quinden muttered, but his eyes betrayed him, flicking towards the sheet. Was that fear that crossed his face, however briefly? Kel wondered.

She had had enough of this, in any case. "I think you'd better come with me, and explain what you've been doing to the King," she said, hoping Quinden wouldn't do anything stupid. His hand still rested on his sword hilt, and he had a twitchy look on his face.

"Oh, you do?" he asked.

A sparrow tweeted warning behind her as he suddenly drew his sword and rushed at her.

"Stay back!" Kel commanded the sparrows and Jump, and, quick as lightening, drew her own sword, and parried his strikes. "You forget," she told him. "I've been at _war_ for three years, while you rode a desk."

Quinden stepped sideways as she blocked his thrust, and feinted to the left. "Oh, and whose fault is that, that I was stuck with paperwork? They stuck _you_ in a refugee camp to play mother, anyway," he said, hatred bleeding from his words.

Kel saw the feint before he made it, and blocked as he swung again. "You'll find it was your own stupidity that caused your situation," she said, concentrating on his movements rather than his words. "Don't be stupid again now. Come with me and talk to the King. Maybe he'll be lenient with you." She doubted it, rather - treason was not exactly a pardonable offence - but since Quinden did not have the magical ability to have cursed Shinko himself, she hoped he would tell them who did.

Quinden sneered at her in response, and struck again. It didn't look like he was giving up soon, and Kel decided it was time to stop simply blocking his strikes and start trying to force him to submit. "I don't want to fight you," she warned him.

"Oh, but I've been _longing_ for a chance to fight you, Lump," he replied, and, as she blocked him again, kicked at her ankle, trying to trip her as her weight moved into the block. Kel let herself fall, more quickly than he could have anticipated, so that he too fell forwards. She rolled away from him and pushed herself back up before he could fully turn back to her, pushing him down with her boot and holding her sword to his throat.

"Stop, Quinden!" she said, commandingly. "Don't make me hurt you!"

He looked her in the eyes, and she realized he had no intention of submitting to her, just as he kicked upwards, hitting her hard in the kneecap. She stumbled backwards and whirled around as he came at her again. "I won't ever give in to you, _girl_ ," he said, pushing her back against the wall with a barrage of quick slashes. "You're the biggest example of everything wrong with Tortall today!"

Kel took a breath and twisted to one side along the wall, away from his thrusts. Quinden's sword bounced off the wall with a clang, and she caught him in the sword arm with a quick thrust. Blood dripped down his arm, but he barely seemed to notice, coming at her again with an enraged roar.

Behind him, Kel was barely aware that they now had an audience - Numair and Sato, she guessed - but she didn't let the new arrivals distract her from the fight. Quinden seemed like he actually wanted to kill her, so she had no choice but to respond. Her knee throbbed from his kick, but she ignored it as their swords met in a deadlock. His nose almost touched hers, and sweat dripped from his blond hair and down his fine-boned features. Kel took a chance, and head-butted him, then quickly brought up her sword as he stumbled back, thrusting forward.

Quinden cried out as Griffin thrust through his shoulder, and dropped his own sword. Kel drew back her sword, and he dropped to the ground with a wail.

"That was quite enough of that," she said firmly, pulling a handkerchief from her tunic and wiping the blood from her blade as she regained her breath. Her ears rang from the headbutt. _Note to self,_ she thought ruefully. _That's a bad move without a helmet_. She glanced up, and realized, to her surprise, that not only Numair and Sato had arrived with her sparrows, but also Alanna, who had briskly stepped forward as soon as the fight had ended.

"You're hurt," the Lioness observed, and Kel raised her hand to her bruised forehead, surprised to see drops of blood come away on her fingertips.

"I'll live for now," she said. "Make sure he will too." She gestured to Quinden, who was pale, gripping his shoulder, and groaning. "I want to know what he was doing. And who he was doing it for."

"That will help," Numair broke in. Sato had collected the white sheet from the alcove, wrapping it carefully in a black cloth without touching it. "It reeks of magic."

"Interrogating the knight would still be of use," Sato said coldly, her face its usual blank, but her eyes filled with disgust. "But we will take this back to Numair's workroom, and see what information it can provide us with."

Kel nodded, sheathing her sword, and took a step towards Quinden and Alanna, stumbling as her damaged knee threatened to collapse under her. Alanna glanced up, and glared at her. "You. Sit," she said firmly. "Numair, send Neal?" she called to the mages, who had begun to walk away, arguing theories of how the curse on the sheet worked.

* * *

Neal had clucked over her bruised head and injured knee - "You've got a hairline fracture here. And whatever made you think using your head as a battering ram was a good idea? You're lucky you didn't knock yourself out! I'm surprised you're not seeing stars with a concussion like this…" - but had healed her quickly, despite her protests that he should wait. Unfortunately, as usual, the healing had sent her to sleep.

As she awakened, her mind stuck in the fuzzy haze she always experienced after a healing-induced nap, it took her a moment to remember what had happened. She was aware that something felt urgent, but not quite what it was. "I've got to…" she began, sluggishly, and started to sit up, her mouth feeling like it was full of glue.

"Got to what?" Neal's face came into view as she blinked away the sleep residue. "You've got to drink something, at least, before you get up."

She took the cup gratefully, and drank deeply, immediately feeling more human. "What time is it?" she said, noticing that her room was now bright with daylight. "Where's Quinden?"

"Don't worry - he's in the fine company of the King's Guards, who are keeping a _very_ close eye on him while Numair and your Yamani mage work out who he's working for," Neal said, his own disgust at Quinden's treachery obvious on his face. "They should be done by this evening, and then you'll be needed to explain what he told you before you fought, since Alanna said you weren't there for that bit."

Kel sighed, and handed him back the empty cup. "He didn't say much. Not who he was working for, anyway."

Neal shrugged. "Then let's hope the King can truth-spell it out of him later - or that the mages can work out the spell on that sheet he had."

Nari landed on Kel's hand, and chirped. Kel grinned at her. "I guess that gives me time to find cherries for you all, then," she told her, pulling herself out of bed. Her stomach gurgled as she stood up, and Neal snorted.

"I think you could do with some yourself. Lunch?"

"Lunch," Kel agreed with a grin.


	10. Rewards

It wasn't until after that evening's meal - fortunately, no feast had been planned for that evening - that a maid fetched Kel, Neal, and Yuki to the Council chamber once again. A chair had been placed against the wall opposite the door, in which Quinden was seated, scowling, flanked by two of the King's guardsmen. Numair and Sato sat opposite the King, both looking rather tired and strained, while the others filed in and took seats around the round oak table. They were joined this time by Daine, who gave Kel a friendly grin as she took her seat, and the King's prime minister, Gareth the Younger, his face serious.

"They only just finished working out the spells on the sheet," Raoul told Kel, sitting down beside her. "How's the knee?"

"Not worth all the fuss," Kel said, half-glaring at Neal, who shrugged.

"I didn't tell him!"

Raoul patted her on the shoulder. "Sorry I missed the fight. Alanna told me it was worth the watch."

Before she could respond, King Jonathan rapped on the table to call them to order. "Numair, Sato, what have you discovered?"

Sato stood, and bowed formally to the King. "Your Majesty, the spell is Tyran, as we suspected. We have been able to isolate the spell's signature, so that we could follow the path along which the object had been carried. With the aid of Veralidaine we were able to track it some way out of the palace. However, in the snow, the trail was lost several streets away. We believe, however, that the mage must still be in Corus. It is unlikely that they are aware that their plan has been discovered - although if this one" - she gestured to Quinden - "does not return to them for the next object, they will soon guess."

King Jonathan nodded. "Thank you for your efforts." He turned to Quinden, his expression hardening. "Then you will tell us who we are hunting for."

Quinden glared at the King. "I will tell you nothing."

"You are a traitor to Tortall," the King said, his voice soft and dangerous. "Take this opportunity to redeem yourself, and perhaps you may escape execution."

Quinden let out a short bark of a laugh. "You are the traitor, to all that Tortall has always stood for - you and your half-breed son!"

Kel could see the anger on the King's face, and was both surprised and impressed by how well he held it in - his control was almost Yamani, she thought approvingly. He turned back to the group gathered at the table. "Are we agreed that extraordinary measures may be taken, to ensure the safety of Tortall?" he asked, eyes resting first on Alanna, and then on Gareth. The Lioness looked troubled, but nodded, as did Gareth. King Jonathan gave a short nod in return, and turned back to Quinden. "You will be subjected to a truth spell. I give you one last chance to speak without it."

"A truth spell will do nothing if I refuse to speak," Quinden said stubbornly, although Kel could see the uncertainty on his face.

"I think you will find that it will," the King said, calmly, his tone hard, and let loose the blue fire of his magic. Quinden stiffened and groaned as it engulfed him. "Now, tell me, who are you working for?"

Quinden spluttered, clearly trying to resist the spell, but to no avail. "Senator Ballas," he gasped.

"The Tyran finance minister," Queen Thayet said. "But what could Tyra possibly hope to gain by an attack on Tortall?"

Quinden responded to the question, seemingly unable to stop himself. "If Tortall turns barren, Tyra will become rich, supplying them with food."

The King's tone turned harder. Kel realized that he was trying to prevent himself from bellowing. "And what do you, a knight of Tortall, stand to gain from this?"

Quinden stared at the King, hatred in his eyes. "Marti's Hill is on the Tyran border. It will be unaffected. The rot will be spread when the Prince and Princess begin their Progress, in the spring." Shinko and Roald glanced at each other, Shinko's eyes wide and Roald's face pale with horror. Quinden continued. "I will marry the senator's daughter, and be granted land in Tyra. Marti's Hill will become a grand fief."

The King looked at the blond knight with disgust. "So you serve your own greed over your promises to the realm, and to your sovereign. You deserve the fate that will befall you now. Tell us where we may find the mage, so we can end your treacherous plot for good."

Quinden was pale now, slumped back in his seat, the mutinous look fading from his face. It seemed as if he had finally realized what he had done. "His name is Andreadis. Kristof Andreadis. He's staying at an inn near the harbour. The Red Lion."

The King looked up, at Raoul. "Take a squad of the Own," he commanded. "Numair, go with him. Bring in the mage, as quickly as you can." He turned back to the guards, still stood sharply to attention either side of Quinden's slumped form. "Take him back to his cell. He can wait for his trial."

Kel watched as her yearmate was led away. After he had left, she glanced at Neal. His face was pale, lacking his usual cynical glint. He caught her eye, and shook his head sadly. Yuki looked at them both and gave them a small smile. Kel knew that they all shared the same thought. _I never imagined it would be one of us_.

* * *

It took the capture of the mage, in the early hours of the morning, and the realization that Shinko and Tortall were, for now, safe again, for Kel's mood to lift. By the next evening's feast, when Owen greeted her with a grin and Neal with a sarcastic remark, she felt a pang of happiness to be with her friends that she hadn't felt properly in days. The room was abuzz with gossip about the thwarted threat to the Princess - it seemed that the news had leaked. Kel ignored it, and relaxed into conversation and jokes with her friends. Still, after dinner, the sound of her name being called out by the King made her jump, and feel uncomfortably like another unpleasant surprise was coming her way. At Yuki's gesturing, she stood awkwardly, feeling the eyes of the room on her as she walked to the King's table and bowed deeply.

"Lady Knight Keladry," King Jonathan said formally, standing to greet her, along with Queen Thayet. "We wish to recognize, and thank you for, your service to Tortall. You fought for Us for three years in the Scanran War, commanding at New Hope. Since your return to Corus, you have once again done your utmost to protect Our royal heirs, and to prevent disaster befalling the Realm."

Kel felt a blush rise in her cheeks, and struggled to force it away. "Thank you, sire, but I was just doing what I needed to, as a knight of the realm."

The King, however, had not finished, and ignored her. "You have been given the title Protector by others," he continued, and Kel heard the murmurs and whispers in the hall increase. She knew where he had heard the title - the Chamber had repeated its name for her when she had entered with the King and Roald - but the only others who had ever heard that name were Merric, Owen, and Neal, who had gone with her to Rathaussak. _I had hoped not to have to be reminded of that silly title,_ she thought, embarrassed.

"I hereby name you Protector of the Realm," the King went on, and Kel thought her face could not get any redder. The hall erupted in cheers, and Kel stammered out her thanks, bowed again, and hurriedly took her seat, wanting nothing more than to sink into the floor. Fortunately, the King had other thanks and honours to bestow, this being the last night of the Midwinter festivities, and so the attention of most of the room was soon on others, among them the Yamani mage, Sato.

Neal and Owen, however, paid that no attention.

"How jolly, Kel!" Owen said, his cheeks pink with pleasure for her.

"A Protector and a Lioness!" Neal drawled teasingly. "Our future lady knights have a lot to live up to!"

Kel went to elbow him in the ribs, but the last bit made her stop. "Wait, what? Future lady knights?"

"Didn't you know?" Owen said. "Two girls are pages now. Have been for a while, actually - since just before my knighting."

"No, I didn't know!" Kel replied. "Two of them? Are you sure?"

Owen nodded, and Kel let a pleased grin spread across her face. Two female pages! Who would be female squires, and female knights! She raised her cup of juice to Owen and Neal.

"For two female pages, you can give me whatever silly names you want," she said, feeling suddenly giddy.

"I'll hold you to that," Neal threatened with a grin.

* * *

The next day held one last surprise for Kel. She had gone to her parents' house for the day, taking along Tobe, hoping to have a nice, ordinary time with her family after the drama of the past few days. That evening, as she returned to the palace, she decided to stop in to the stables to give Peachblossom and Hoshi some attention.

"Hello, boy," she said softly, letting Peachblossom give her an affectionate nip. She dug in her pocket for an apple for him, leaning over to give one to Hoshi as well.

"A little bird told me I might find you here."

Raoul leaned on the gate of Hoshi's stall. Beside him, Nari fluttered down and landed on the gate.

Kel quirked an eyebrow at him. "Oh, I see," she said, amused. "An actual little bird."

Nari chirped, and Kel pulled out a paper package from a pouch in her belt, tipping out some raisins into her hand for the sparrows.

Raoul grinned at her. "Protector of the Realm, eh?" he said, with a glint in his eye. "Quite a title!"

Kel groaned. "Don't remind me," she said. "Can we just forget about it? I'd much rather just be Kel."

"Want to get as far away from Corus as possible now?" Raoul joked.

Kel laughed. "I'd rather be fighting Scanrans," she said, only half joking.

"Well, how about if I told you that you're now Commander of the King's Own in the North?" Raoul asked, still grinning.

Kel stared at him. "I'd say you were drunk," she replied without thinking, then shut her mouth, and opened it again. "And there is no 'King's Own in the North.'"

"There is now," Raoul said. "Three companies. And they're under your overall command. You'll take one of them most of the time, of course, like I take the First."

Kel forgot all her Yamani training, and gaped at him. "Wait, what? You're actually serious."

"Of course I am," Raoul replied. "We need your command skills, Kel. Since the war ended, I've been saying that the border is still too big to properly secure without an increased mobile presence from the Own and the Riders - and the King has finally agreed with me. So we're creating three new companies of the Own. I'll still be in command of the Own as a whole, and you'll officially answer to me, but to be honest, most of the time it'll be up to you."

Kel was at a loss for words. "But I've barely been a knight for three years!"

Raoul looked serious for a moment. "And in that time you've fought a war, commanded a fort, and protected Tortall from dangerous magery besides," he said. "It won't be easy, but you're the only person I trust to be able to do what needs to be done, and command well at the same time. You know how to take tough decisions, Kel. People respect your authority. And you keep a cool head under pressure."

Kel barely knew how to respond to the litany of praise from her former knight master. "Thank you," she said, ducking her head as her cheeks reddened. "Then... I accept."

Raoul grinned again. "Excellent! You'll have Owen and Merric under you as commanders of the Fifth and Sixth, by the way. The Fourth'll be yours. Oh, and New Hope will make an excellent base for your command. We're sending Neal back with you, too, as secondary commander of the fort and chief healer for your companies."

As the shock wore off, Kel felt excitement, mingled with anticipation, begin to bubble inside her. To be commander of three companies of the King's Own! Never had she imagined she would be granted such a position - even after Rathaussak. To have her friends with her, people she would trust her life to after three years together, and to return to the Northern borders and New Hope, a place that felt like home - it was a dream of the best kind. "Have you told them yet? Owen and Merric and Neal?"

Raoul grinned. "I thought we could go and do that together, Lady Knight Commander," he said, gesturing towards the stable door.

Kel mock-glared at him. "Enough with the titles!"

As they walked through the yard towards the palace doors, Raoul gave Kel more details of the work ahead of her. "... I've given you thirty men from each of my companies, so we'll both have to do some serious recruiting," he told her. "But you'll need to promote sergeants, too, as soon as you can." He paused, and grinned.

"What?" Kel said, curiously.

"You'll have one already, though," Raoul said. "Dom volunteered to join your company."

Kel felt her stomach flip-flop, remembering Dom's smile. The future looked bright - maybe in more ways than one.


End file.
